{{tnr}}'''Sam Brownback''' (b. September 12, 1956, in Garnett, [[Kansas]]) is the 46th and current [[Republican]] [[Governor of Kansas]]. He was first elected to the governorship in 2010. He faced Joan Heffington in the August 3, 2010 primary, winning with 82% of the vote, and went on to defeat [[Tom Holland]] (D), [[Andrew P. Gray]] (L), and [[Ken Cannon]] (Reform) in the general election on [[Kansas gubernatorial election, 2010|November 2, 2010]].<ref>[http://kansas.watchdog.org/5615/brownback-a-clean-sweep-for-a-new-beginning/ "Brownback: “A clean sweep for a new beginning,"" ''Kansas Watchdog'', November 3, 2010]</ref> He was sworn into office on January 10, 2011, for a four year term expiring in January of 2015.

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{{tnr}}'''Sam Brownback''' (b. September 12, 1956, in Garnett, [[Kansas]]) is the 46th and current [[Republican]] [[Governor of Kansas]]. He was first elected to the governorship in 2010. He faced Joan Heffington in the August 3, 2010 primary, winning with 82% of the vote, and went on to defeat [[Tom Holland]] (D), [[Andrew P. Gray]] (L), and [[Ken Cannon]] (Reform) in the general election on [[Kansas gubernatorial election, 2010|November 2, 2010]].<ref>[http://kansas.watchdog.org/5615/brownback-a-clean-sweep-for-a-new-beginning/ ''Kansas Watchdog'', "Brownback: A clean sweep for a new beginning," November 3, 2010]</ref> He was sworn into office on January 10, 2011, for a four year term expiring in January of 2015.

Brownback {{2014is}} eligible for re-election, and {{2014isrunning}} for a second term as [[Governor of Kansas]] in the [[Kansas state executive official elections, 2014|2014 elections]].<ref name=2nd/> {{Nov2014genelection}}

Brownback {{2014is}} eligible for re-election, and {{2014isrunning}} for a second term as [[Governor of Kansas]] in the [[Kansas state executive official elections, 2014|2014 elections]].<ref name=2nd/> {{Nov2014genelection}}

Sam Brownback (b. September 12, 1956, in Garnett, Kansas) is the 46th and current RepublicanGovernor of Kansas. He was first elected to the governorship in 2010. He faced Joan Heffington in the August 3, 2010 primary, winning with 82% of the vote, and went on to defeat Tom Holland (D), Andrew P. Gray (L), and Ken Cannon (Reform) in the general election on November 2, 2010.[1] He was sworn into office on January 10, 2011, for a four year term expiring in January of 2015.

Prior to becoming governor, Brownback served in a number of elected government offices. Most recently, he was the senior U.S. senator for Kansas from 1996-2011, having won a special election to fill the seat left vacant by former Sen. Bob Dole (R). He was re-elected to a full term in 2004. He ascended to the U.S. Senate out of the U.S. House, to which he was elected by voters from Kansas' 2nd Congressional District in 1994. Brownback began his political career in 1986, when he became the youngest individual to be elected Kansas Secretary of Agriculture in the state's history.[3]

Brownback is a licensed attorney. He practiced law in Manhattan, Kansas between his graduation from law school in 1982 and his election to the statewide office of agriculture secretary. During his tenure as secretary, Brownback did double duty as a White House Fellow under the administration of George H.W. Bush.[3]

An analysis of Republican governors by Nate Silver of the New York Times in April 2013 ranked Brownback as the 12th most conservative governor in the country.[4]

Biography

Sam Brownback is a fourth generation Kansan. Born in Garnett, he grew up on a farm in Linn County where his parents still live. He was elected student body president as an undergraduate and then president of his law school class by his fellow students. At Kansas State, he also joined the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity.[3]

After college, Sam spent a year in broadcasting, hosting a weekly show. He graduated from law school in 1982 and worked as a private practice attorney in Manhattan, Kansas for four years before being elected as Kansas' Secretary of Agriculture in 1986. He first went to Washington as a White House Fellow under the George H.W. Bush Administration. From 1990-1991, he was detailed to the office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Upon completion of his fellowship, Brownback returned to Kansas and resumed his secretarial office.[3]

Brownback holds a B.S. in agricultural economics from Kansas State University and a J.D. from the University of Kansas Law School.

Education

Bachelor's of Science in Agricultural Economics - Kansas State University (1978)

Juris Doctor - University of Kansas Law School, J.D. (1982)

Political career

Governor of Kansas (2011-Present)

Brownback assumed office as Kansas' 46th governor on January 10, 2011, following his victory in the November 2, 2010 general election.

Job creation ranking

In a June 2013 analysis by The Business Journals which ranked 45 of the country's 50 governors by their job creation record, Brownback was ranked number 25. The five governors omitted from the analysis all assumed office in 2013. The ranking was based on a comparison of the annual private sector growth rate in all 50 states using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.[5][6]

Twitter 'overreaction'

In November 2011, 18-year old high school senior Emma Sullivan attended a Kansas Youth in Government event in Topeka, which featured Brownback. During the event, Sullivan posted a tweet that said, "Just made mean comments at gov brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot." The governor's office notified event organizers about the tweet, who notified Sullivan's school. According to Sullivan, the principal ordered her to write apology letters to Brownback, the Youth in Government sponsor and others.[7]

The issue received national attention, eventually resulting in an apology from Brownback to Sullivan. He released a statement, saying, "My staff over-reacted to this tweet, and for that I apologize. Freedom of speech is among our most treasured freedoms. I enjoyed speaking to the more than 100 students who participated in the Youth in Government Program at the Kansas Capitol. They are our future. I also want to thank the thousands of Kansas educators who remind us daily of our liberties, as well as the values of civility and decorum. Again, I apologize for our over-reaction."[8]

Voter ID

Gov. Sam Brownback signed a law in April 2011 requiring voters to produce a photo ID before casting a ballot instead of the previous protocol of producing a signature to verify identification at the polls, starting January 1, 2013.

“This is a modest, prudent measure. You show photo ID to cash a check, you show one to get on a plane, it’s something people are used to doing,” Brownback said. “It’s a modest and important measure to ensure the sanctity of the vote.”[9]

U.S. Senate (1996-2011)

U.S. House of Representatives (1995-1996)

He entered Congress as the Representative for Kansas' 2nd District in 1993 and, in 1996, moved to the Senate in a special election for Bob Dole's seat. He served as the ranking Republican on the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee and also sat on the Homeland Security Subcommittee, the Appropriations Committee, the Judiciary Committee, the Joint Economic Committee, and the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, more casually known as the Helsinki Commission.[3]

On The Issues Vote Match

On The Issues conducts a VoteMatch analysis of all Congressional members based on 20 issue areas. Rather than relying on incumbents to complete the quiz themselves, the VoteMatch analysis is conducted using voting records, statements to the media, debate transcripts or citations from books authored by or about the candidate. Based on the results of the quiz, Brownback is a Moderate Conservative. Brownback received a score of 38 percent on personal issues and 70 percent on economic issues.[11]

On The Issues organization logo.

The table below contains the results of analysis compiled by staff at On The Issues.

Issues

In the gubernatorial debate on October 7, 2010 on KWCH all four candidates for Kansas governor said they were against the statewide smoking ban and the hypocrisy of exempting the state-owned casinos from the ban.

Brownback stated:

I think they need to be left to local units of government as well, but I’ll tell you something else that we ought to do, that’s to put the ban on the state-owned facilities. That’s where the ban ought to be on in the first place, is the state should lead by example and not exempting itself by something like this. That smoking ban ought to be on the state facilities and leave the other issues to the local control. That’s the best way a state can lead, doing this to itself and leading by example rather than putting it on somebody else, a burden somewhere else.[14]

2004

Brownback won re-election to the United States Senate in 2004, defeating Lee Jones (D), Steven A. Rosile (L), and George Cook.[15]

United States Senate General Election, 2004

Party

Candidate

Vote %

Votes

Republican

Sam BrownbackIncumbent

69.2%

780,863

Democratic

Lee Jones

27.5%

310,337

Libertarian

Steven A. Rosile

1.9%

21,842

Reform Party

George Cook

1.4%

15,980

Total Votes

1,129,022

1996

On November 5, 1996, Sam Brownback won election to the United States Senate. He defeated Jill Docking (D) and Donald R. Klaassen (Reform) in the special election.[16]

U.S. Senate, Kansas, 1996

Party

Candidate

Vote %

Votes

Republican

Sam Brownback

53.9%

574,021

Democratic

Jill Docking

43.3%

461,344

Reform

Donald R. Klaaseen

2.8%

29,351

Total Votes

1,064,716

Campaign donors

Comprehensive donor information for Brownback is available dating back to 2010. Based on available campaign finance records, Brownback raised a total of $3,569,073 during that time period. This information was last updated on July 11, 2013.[17]

2010

Ballotpedia collects information on campaign donors for each year in which a candidate or incumbent is running for election. The following table offers a breakdown of Sam Brownback's donors each year.[18] Click [show] for more information.

Personal

Sam and Mary Brownback live in Topeka with their five children; Abby, Andy, Liz, Mark and Jenna. Two of their children are adopted. Raised as a Methodist, Brownback first converted to evangelical Protestantism and then, in 2002, to Catholicism. He still regularly attends a non-denominational church.[19]

Recent news

This section displays the most recent stories in a Google news search for the term "Sam + Brownback + Kansas + Governor"

All stories may not be relevant to this page due to the nature of the search engine.

↑The questions in the quiz are broken down into two sections -- social and economic. In social questions, liberals and libertarians agree in choosing the less-government answers, while conservatives and populists agree in choosing the more restrictive answers. For the economic questions, conservatives and libertarians agree in choosing the less-government answers, while liberals and populists agree in choosing the more restrictive answers.